The 10 economic arguments every founder needs in their pitch deck

There's plenty of advice on pitch deck structure and style, but surprisingly little on what a deck must convey about the business economics to make it investable. This framework covers the 10 economic arguments — from unit economics to defensibility — that separate fundable pitches from forgettable ones.

There is a great deal of advice floating around about how to create a successful venture pitch deck. Practitioners from Sequoia to Carta to Guy Kawasaki describe the ideal 10-15 slide content outline entrepreneurs should cover in their pitch decks. Other sources, such as TechStars and Y-Combinator discuss communication style and how to grab attention of VCs and still others offer general guidelines and success factors about the capital raising process. These are all valuable resources. There is surprisingly little advice on what, exactly, a pitch deck needs to convey about the business to make it investable. An compelling pitch is not a story about a product. Or a pain point. Or a technology. Or a market. What makes a venture investable are its economics and the most compelling pitch frames the venture as a strong economic engine. Too many founders miss this opportunity. Those that do put themselves in another league. Below I lay out ten economic arguments I see the most compelling ventures deliberately weave throughout the pitch deck—arguments that form the backbone of how investors evaluate opportunities and return-potential. Ten Economic Arguments that Promote Invest-ability 1. Proprietary Insight into How Shifts in Economics are Creating a Valuable Emerging Marketspace Every compelling startup begins with a market that is changing —not just a market that is “big” or “growing.” Markets evolve when underlying economics evolve. This can happen because technology lowers cost curves, new data becomes available, industries converge, customer behavior shifts, or regulatory changes unlock opportunity. The reasons vary, but the effect is the same: a new marketspace emerges because the economics now support it. The founder’s job is to tell this story of the economic shift —and the opportunity created by it. The most powerful form of this argument is to suggest that economic shifts have (now) created the conditions that require a business like this to spring into being. Yo

By Andy Annacone at TechNexus Venture Collaborative